this is how it ends
by Good Day Sunshine
Summary: It is what makes them Slytherin. -character death, angst-


**DISCLAIMER: I DISCLAIM.**

**Ah, I was hoping this would longer...well, I suppose this is good enough. **

* * *

_"There's no mercy in war. People live and people die, that's all there is to it."_

_-Solo wing Pixie, Ace Combat Zero

* * *

_

**_Pansy Parkinson_**

Death is black smog, death is a snake and a skull, death is a green bolt of lighting, death is when your mother plops to the ground like a lifeless heap of limbs while your father watches on with a wicked smile twisted on his lips.

"That's what happens to people who disagree, Pansy." he says, a maniacal gleam in his eye. She just stares and stares and stares as her four year-old mind slowly processes the thought of her mum never waking up.

Pansy doesn't want to be like that (and she isn't).

She wasn't kidding when she said they should hand over Potter. No, Pansy may not have been the smartest of girls, but she could spot destruction with her eyes closed. There is no mercy in war. People live and people die, that's all there is to it. No shades of grey, just two opposing sides: black and white. But Pansy was one of those people who wanted to live and she didn't care what she did it or who was left in the broken paths she carved.

So she hops on her broom and flies and flies and flies until she is too tired and can no longer see the falling towers of Hogwarts. She lands on a plain somewhere, plopping on the ground, hands grabbing at the grassy ground to check if it's all real (it is). She's sucking in breaths of air because the world is so hazy and her heart is pounding painfully against her chest, but she's alive, alive, _alive_.

(and that's the only thing that matters)

* * *

_**Vincent Crabbe**_

It is nothing like he dreamed.

There is no roaring applause, no crowds of people, and no standing ovation. There is no one to congratulate him. The roof breaks and crumbles from the devouring fire and a part of a beam falls from the sky like a shooting star, pointed directly at him. A sharp intake of breath, a silenced scream, and there goes Vincent Crabbe, the boy who wanted to show the world he was more than what he was (not a failure).

In the end, he is just another name on the list and another body tossed onto the pile.

* * *

**_Theodore Nott_**

He escapes the battle with nothing but his life.

When he visits his father a year later, the door is slammed into his face and Mister Nott says he doesn't remember having a son.

Theodore Nott is an only child.

_Well._

He wasn't sorted into Slytherin for nothing.

He leaves the Nott mansion.

His life goes on.

* * *

_**Gregory Goyle**_

"_Listen, listen," _his mother used to whisper, _"Listen to me, do as I say." _

And the truth is: he always did. Gregory Goyle was an excellent child. He always listened, always did as he was told, always nodded and smiled and said 'Yes Mummy, I will.' The adults would pat him on the head and whisper about how they wanted their children to be like him. _'Like little Gregory Goyle, with his good manners and quiet personality. And pure-blood, to top that!'_

"So...Mister Goyle," the investigator booms, "What will it be? Azkaban or community service?"

It's the choice they give everyone (like him): a set amount of time in Azkaban or a set of amount of time doing community service. Some get forever, some get ten years. It depended on how the investigator felt on the situation. 'Gets things done quick and easy,' the man says. Goyle smiles at this.

"Mister Goyle, what do you chose?"

All he can do is nod until his neck is numb.

* * *

_**Blaise Zabini**_

Sometimes, he thinks he should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. He tells his mum this, but she only smiles and shakes her head in disagreement. _"No, Blaise, Ravenclaws are intelligent, not cunning. They are the ones who build the labyrinth, we are the ones who escape it, Hufflepuffs are the ones who ignore it, and Gryffindors are the ones who destroy it."_

And escape the labyrinth he does. No scars on his body, no grief in his mind. Of all the people who left the war, he is probably the least scathed, excluding Muggles. He's played his cards carefully from the start of school to the moment he left, and no one doubts a thing about the Zabinis, the wealthiest family in the wizarding world.

How's _that_ for a half-blood, hmm?

* * *

**_Draco Malfoy_**

His family is safe.

He regrets nothing.

* * *

**And there it is...I'm not satisfied. Which is unsurprising, seeing as I am bad at writing non-romance...**


End file.
